...And when leaders of our enemies scream that the Temple was never even on the Temple Mount, why shouldn't that student believe them? If our youth doesn't know where the Egyptian border and the Sea of Galilee are, and has never heard of Jerusalem of the time of David and Solomon, we have no chance of protecting our positions in the world.In Israel, the phrase "the Holy Land" is associated with religious people who froth at the mouth and are on anti-psychotic medication. And look -- this week, holiness appeared. In pomp and circumstance, not as a metaphor but as an objective statement: the Holy See visited the Holy Land and spoke of the "holy balance" between the Israelis and the Palestinians. If we allow ourselves and not just the Vatican to be holy, a large part of the hate monsters will crumple of their own accord. In the jungle, the stronger you are, the fewer wars there are. And strength comes first of all from a spiritual stance.

Dear Mr. Medad,After having looked into this article, we see that Mr. Mackey
engages in reasonable discussion of the ammunition the soldier used in the
incident. Certainly it would have helped clarity if there was some
mention of that earlier in the piece but overall, our office is satisfied with
the way the article was handled.Best,Jonah Bromwich Office of the Public EditorThe New York Times

I sent back this reaction:

Dear Mr. Jonah Bromwich

Office of the Public Editor

The New York Times

Thank you for your response to my complaint regarding the May 28
post of Robert Mackey, “Israel Suspends Soldier in West Bank Shooting
Investigation”, but I do not think you adequately address my concerns that
there was less than a “reasonable discussion” therein and for sure, your point
that “[c]ertainly it would have helped clarity if he had written it differently
and that is the point. While your office
may have been “satisfied with the way the article was handled”, I think there
is another opinion which must be
considered.

His opening lead-in is blunt and forceful and sets the tone:

“The Israeli military suspended a soldier who was captured on
video this month firing his rifle at protesters in the occupied West Bank.
Video evidence showed that the soldier fired his weapon within seconds of a
Palestinian boy’s collapsing to the ground with what proved to be a fatal
gunshot wound.”

That assertion links two untruths. Only at the end of seven paragraphs does the
reader realize that what the soldier fired was claimed not to be a lethal
bullet but a rubber-coated pellet, which, at the range fired, could not have
been fatal. In addition, since we do not
know, even after several days of discussions and news reporting, who fired the
bullet, not to mention that over an hour separates two different shooting
incidents, the deaths of two Arab youths would seem to warrant focusing on
investigating the reporting on the issue.
That goal, usually to theme of Mackey’s blog, of reviewing how various
media outlets and formats deal with news reporting is absent. Mackey has a very narrow circle of sources,
rather than “open”, when it comes to Israel.

Blogs that have analyzed, using sophisticated synchronized
comparison viewing of the various video clips are ignored. Pro-Israeli sites are non-existent whereas
quite often, such pro-Arab sites, such as Electronic Intifada and BDS-promoting
NGOs, appear with ever-increasing regularity.

Mackey’s "a Palestinian boy’s collapsing to the ground with
what proved to be a fatal gunshot wound" is not proven, at least by
acceptable standards of proof such as a court of law, a scientific lab or a credible
expert. All is conjecture. Indeed, he is following his previous post on
the matter which is headlined "Video Shows Killing of Palestinians on Nakba
Day". That headline is not
supported as when one does read the text, one learns that "Security-camera
footage obtained by the rights group Defense for Children International appears
to show the fatal shooting of two young Palestinians on
Thursday...”. The headline is not only unethical but inflammatory. Truth was obfuscated, which is not what the
NYTimes should be doing.

He also informs us that a doctor said that the protestor's heart
was "destroyed." If a bullet destroyed a heart, would it exit? It seems that any outlandish anti-Israel
claim are readily and uncritically accepted, rarely treated to an analysis and
challenged whereas pro-Israel claims are quite often doubted and
qualified. Moreover, the official Israeli responses are couched in
language that leads the reader to doubt but sources, such as a Richard
Silverstein or Ali Abu-Nimah, who engage unabashedly in propaganda, are put on
stage-front in his columns.

There is another narrative out there but Mackey ignores it. The possibility, as far-fetched as Mackey
personally regards it, is that the "shootings" filmed by the security cameras would/could appear
to be staged events, set-up by people. A “victim” shot from in front falls forward (not
backward) and holds out his arms to break his fall. A person who was shot through the heart does
not exhibited significant bleeding. A
bullet that supposedly entered a body and backpack and books does not have the
form of what a bullet should look like if so.

A still that shows an apparent pellet indentation of a victim’s
trousers is ignored. Mackey’s only
independent contribution is negative to any pro-Israel story.

Insisting, as Mackey does, that what appear would seem to favor
Israel are simply ‘allegations’, should be a matter that demands the same
treatment for other, different sources.
Awarding the same level of believability to a newspaper whose editorial
line is stridently opposed to the IDF actions in the territories as to official
spokesmen is another failure on his part.

Mackey’s relationship with the news from the territories
administered by Israel has been colored, normatively tendentious and displays a personal
unprofessional involvement with the issue.

Can I
suggest a review of his posts on the theme Israel’s administration over, say,
the past two years which would analyze his sources (quantitatively as well as
qualitatively), the amount of stories vis a vis similar themes outside the
Middle East, and other elements that could contribute to a biased result, one I
suspect is the reality.

In any
case, both what I and Mr. Mackey are doing is presenting elements surrounding
the reporting of an event. We should be
raising doubts, suspicions and dealing with various theories. The two Arab youths could have been killed by
an Israel security person and they could have been killed by others. The two bodies claimed to have been killed
and buried could have been who they claimed they were and also, the two persons
seen in the videos could have been there for a staged reenactment. In any case, the number of odd scenes shown
do warrant at least a mention and discussion and not a summary exclusion or
minimalization while, at the same time, one side receives an overwhelming
amount of attention.

A
newspaper, even if now a news web site, should deal less in unproven and surely
unsupported speculation and more in balancing the sources from which a media
consumer can draw his own conclusions.

Sincerely,

Yisrael
Medad

_____________________________*

In his post today, [Mackey] quotes the Haaretz newspaper regarding a soldier suspended due to firing his rifle and connects it to the death of two Arab youths.But Mackey neglects to quote the source indicating the rifle was outfitted with a rubber-bullet attachment.Here is Mackey:The Israeli military suspended a soldier who was captured on video this month firing his rifle at protesters in the occupied West Bank. Video evidence showed that the soldier fired his weapon within seconds of a Palestinian boy’s collapsing to the ground with what proved to be a fatal gunshot wound.As the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Wednesday, the suspended soldier, seen in video recorded by a CNN producer, was a member of a communications unit assigned to document the work of combat troops and border police deployed to contain a demonstration in the West Bank town of Beitunia, near Israel’s Ofer Prison, on May 15. The CNN video appeared to show that another shot was fired by a police officer who was standing near the soldier on a hillside above the protesters.​Here is Haaretz:A probe into the deaths of two Palestinians killed in the West Bank village of Bitunia during a Nakba Day demonstration earlier this month took a dramatic turn on Wednesday, when a CNN video clip showed a non-combat soldier, who had accompanied his comrades on the mission, firing what appeared to be a rubber bullet during the incident.The soldier, a member of an IDF communications division, apparently fired his bullet at around the same time that one of the Palestinians, Nadim Nuwara, 17, was killed. However, the IDF has found no evidence proving that this soldier's bullet caused Nuwara's death. The details of the case are under a military court gag order.​The highlighted section is missing from Mackey.This is unethical, an act of malfeasance and purposefully biasing his account.

================================================The reply:

Dear Mr. Medad,Thanks for following up. I appreciate your response and will keep it in mind going forward, particularly when evaluating stories covering this sensitive topic.Best,Jonah BromwichOffice of the Public EditorThe New York Times

=====================

On that security camera issue: when were they installed? Were they installed by the owner of the business to catch break ins? Or did someone ask him to install those cameras and pay for them? Obviously this is something that could be very difficult to find out. The shop owner wouldn't spill the beans if he were encouraged to install them.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

As you know, Muslims seek to provoke Jews on the Temple Mount which would give them an excuse to pressure the police (and the Prime Minister).The really know how to organize their provocations.What I found so organized was the paramedic ready for all options (except, I am guessing, for treating Jews, who are dogs, pygmies and monkeys):

Welcome to the gates of Jerusalem, City of Peace...a peace which has been removed by the Israeli occupation.

...Our goal is to fight the Israeli occupation of oppression, and we must do to be removed from our land. It is the occupation that wants to wipe our presence - both Muslims, both Christians - and obscure the identity through the severe oppressive measures of cutting off Jerusalem from its Palestinian attempt to Judaize it and hurt its people , and to take control of the holy places contrary to all divine laws and international conventions...the preventing the arrival of believers at places of worship is a violation of freedom of worship and the fight against faith.

There are ferocious attack against the holy places...and attempts to change the status-quo which are dangerous and constitute aggression against the Muslim nation...also a violation of the Hashemite Kingdom under the auspices of the holy places in Jerusalem. This can trigger a religious war in the region and the world. Israeli government bear those consequences of this policy.

Hence we turn to Your Excellency - saw your call for peace - will work to stop the attacks and acts of oppression those that harm the residents of Jerusalem, Muslims, and Christians. We urge you to prevent damage to holy places and to stem the attacks on the al - Aqsa Mosque.

and Muhammad Hussein

...This blessed mosque and all contained therein are subjected to aggression and invasions of extremist settlers, under the auspices of the Israeli occupation authorities, who seek to Judaize the mosque and share - both in terms of time [ = at certain hours of the day] in terms of the areas [ = at certain specified places].

..We want freedom and an end to the occupation, and that the Palestinian people will fill their legitimate rights , self-determination and an independent state with its capital in Jerusalem...

(thanks to YE)Besides everything else, note the lack of Jews in their words.Jews have no rights, history or future in Jerusalem.From a news report:

Pope Francis was given a tour of the Asqa compound by Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, who gave Francis a letter speaking about the suffering of the Palestinians and the mistreatment of holy sites in Jerusalem.

Sheikh Hussein also talked about the destructive effects of Israel's separation wall on the Palestinians, concluding by calling for an end to the occupation and peace and security for all....

"May we work together for justice and peace," Francis said after being shown around the Al-Aqsa compound, which is also considered sacred by Jews because it was the site where their two famed Jerusalem temples once stood...

That, of course, was not true as they simply marched to the Kotel/Western Wall.Oh, sorry. Al-Buraq belongs to Al-Aqsa.P.P.S.And what did the Pope say?

“We are experiencing a fraternal dialogue and exchange which are able to restore us and offer us new strength to confront the common challenges before us,” the Pope told Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem on May 26...The Pontiff took the opportunity to reflect on the figure of Abraham, “who lived as a pilgrim in these lands,” and serves as an important figure to the three major religions.

“Muslims, Christians and Jews see in him, albeit in different ways, a father in faith and a great example to be imitated. He became a pilgrim, leaving his own people and his own house in order to embark on that spiritual adventure to which God called him,” he said...Pope Francis noted that Abraham’s attitude should be an example for every person.

...Pope Francis stressed, “Dear friends, from this holy place I make a heartfelt plea to all people and to all communities who look to Abraham: may we respect and love one another as brothers and sisters!” “May we learn to understand the sufferings of others! May no one abuse the name of God through violence! May we work together for justice and peace!”

...Jerusalem is also Mount Zion and Moriah Mountain and the Western Wall and "Eternal Israel". We preserve our heart, the heart of our nation.We will never divide our heart – never. As we believe that our capital is the heart of our nation, it must be united, as the Rabbi just said, it must be connected to the great soul of Eternal Israel, to the Torah and to the intellectual assets created by our Sages throughout the generations.

Marking the 47th Anniversary of the Unification of Jerusalem, May 27, 2014.And you know where Mount Moriah is.

These reports are translated and publicized by Yehudit Tayar for Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron with the clearance and confirmation of the IDF. Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron is a voluntary emergency medical organization with over 500 volunteer doctors, paramedics, medics who are on call 24/7 and work along with the IDF, 669 IAF Airborne Rescue, the security officers and personal throughout Yesha and the Jordan Valley, and with MDA.

New road opened that shortens the distance to Ramat Mamre from Bet Anun Junction

We are now allowed to disclose the following: Security Forces in joint operation with police arrested an illegal person in Israel who admitted in his interrogation that he planned to carry out a kidnapping terror attack in the community of Avtalin.

Morad Ali-Hasin, 25 in custody first in 9.08 active in the Jihad Islami Terror Organization confessed that during April 2014 he carried out several attempted terror attacks in the Misgav Region including an attempt to kidnap an Israeli and hold him in order to release terrorists in jail. 19.4 he attempted to enter a home in Avtelin near Carmiel, in order to kidnap fortunately the owner of the home prevented the abduction.

He also admitted in his interrogation that he had thrown fire bombs at cars in various occasions. Along with him several other illegals were arrested.

28.5

During the night a memorial was placed at Tapuach Junction in memory of Aviatar Brovsky HY"D.

4 Wanted terrorists arrested : Askar north west of Shchem -1, Katna, north–east of Ramalla-1, A'Tira, south-east of Ramallah -1, Edna east of of Hevron -1

Qalandia – 40 Arabs rioted

21-5

During the night 5 wanted terrorists were caught and arrested by IDF forces. 3- in Silat El Chartia, morth west of Jenin, Ilar south-west of Jenin- 1, Calkilia -1

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

The security forces decided to re-open the road at Bet Anun towards Hevron after being closed during the last 10 years because of terror attacks

Shomron Region:

May 18: electric pole set on fire near Itamar causing power failure for the communities in the region from 6 until 9:30 p.m.

20.5

IDF force in operation in Jenin disclosed weapons and improvised explosive device was thrown on the force 1 IDF soldier lightly injured – did not need evacuation. In addition fire bombs were thrown on the force.

Rock attacks:

Jordan Valley:

Near Argaman on Highway 90 causing damage

Jerusalem Region:

Policeman injured lightly in his leg near the Gate of Flowers in the Old City

Etzion: IDF saw 2 Arabs that seemed suspicious near Kibbutz Migdal Oz- arrested them and found weapons in their possession.

Shomron Region:

Near Sebastia

Near Yitzhar Junction

At Hawara

Benjamin Region :

At Turmous Aya

Near Rachelim from passing car causing damage – no injuries

Highway 465 bus attacked near Dir Abu Mishal causing damage

Near Bet El : at Jelazoun Refugee Camp IDF identified 3 terrorists placing explosive device – during the arrest 1 suspect and 1 terrorist were injured in the ankle from gunfire during the arrests. IDF medical team evacuated to Hadassah Mt. of Olives hospital with light injuries in ankle.

North of Ophra Israeli Arab injured in his head from rock attack when the terrorists thought he was Jewish. IDF giving medical treatment – because of head injury evacuated stat to hospital.

Near Arab school north of Eli

Psagot causing damage

Abud bypass

North of Ophra

Near Hizma causing damage

Between Givat Asaf and Ophra near Psagot

Highway 465 between Kochav Hashachar in the direction of Migdalim near the village of El Moroyiar barricade of rocks was put in the road – IDF responded

Highway 446 between Ali Zahav and Bruchin pipe bomb causing the road to be closed

Near Hizma

Etzion Region:

Near east Halhul Junction bus attacked

Between Bet Umar and Caarmei Zur bus attacked

Near Carmei Zur

Between Ma'aleh Amos and Ivi Hanachal Junction causing road accident when the driver lost control after being hit with rocks- no injuries

Near Tekoa causing damage to window. Also near Arab Tekoa

Near Ma'aleh Amos

El Hadar

El Arub- tourist bus attacked by rocks near Yehudah Farm – near the place where Asher and Yonatan Palmer HY"D were murdered. No injured but window damaged.

El Arub

El Arub bus attacked causing damage

Near Amos Junction in an attempt to cause an accident - 2 buckets of paint were thrown towards a bus- damage to side only

Hevron Region:

At cars next to Bet Hashalom Hevron

Medical and Fire Fighter teams working on fire in parking lot of the trucks near the Cave of the Patriarchs the house nearby was full of smoke and the tenants waited to be rescued on the roof.

Near Bet Hadassah rocks and fire bombs at IDF

Halhul

300 meters west of Halhul Bridge

Medical team who were treating an injured Arab boy from a road accident along with IDF medical team were attacked by Arabs

Pharmacy check post near the Cave of the Patriarchs

Cross Judea Highway near Olive Junction

El Hadar Junction causing damage to window of car

Halhul Bridge causing damage to Israeli and Arab car

Cross Judea Highway about 40 Arabs students of the school attacked cars with rocks and slingshots.

Southern Hevron Hills:

Between Metarim and Sussia near Libna Junction

Negohot causing damage

Ma'aleh Hever junction attempted murder with rock thrown from moving vehicle at car coming towards them shattered the front window by miracle it did not end in murder as in the Palmer terror incident HY"D.

Pay attention, if you will, to the following points:1. No mention of any Arab aggression, violence, attacks and other forms of initiated terror and hostilities during the "1947-1948" entry.2. The rejection of the partition plan is dated at May 1948, not Novemebr 1947.3. The only UN resolution noted is the 194 one on the supposed "right of return" (that doesn't exist).4. In 1950, the West Bank is simply "put under the administration of Transjordan". No "annexation" and no "illegal occupation".5. At October 1959, they do note Fatah seeks to "launch a war".6. The "armed struggle" begins in 1965, two and a half years prior to any Israel "occupation" or "settlement construction".^

To: All Dedicated Supporters of the Palestinian Christian ResistanceFurther to our recent communication, you will find below a backgrounder on the world-wide boycott of Palestinian Muslim goods, services and clients launched by the Palestinian Christian Resistance. We trust this will prove of assistance. With kind regards, (Ms.) Nadeen Nassir_________________________________________BOYCOTT OF GOODS AND SERVICES FROM SO-CALLED PALESTINENB: (i) Palestinian services under boycott include the propaganda agencies at home and abroad which serve the Palestinian Muslim Arabs for pay and other material benefits by providing them with editorial, lobbying, event planning, boycotting and street theater activities. (ii) The blacklisting of token Christian organizations and entities is due to their being mouthpieces for the apartheid Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Hamas Muslim Brotherhood terrorist regimes whose racist constitutions mandate Islam as the only official religion.(iii) The blacklisting of token Jewish organizations and entities is due to similar reasons. (iv) Both groups are largely infiltrated by Marxists, lesbians and retired extremists. I. BACKGROUND 1. The Boycott of Palestinian Goods and Services Commission was founded in 2007 in response to the brutal coup engineered by the Muslim Brotherhood known as Hamas in Gaza. 2. They began a terror campaign against Palestinian Arabs of the Christian faith to ethnically cleanse our indigenous people from their lands which they have lived in since the time of our Lord and Savior, the Son of Mary, Jesus the Christ. They claimed that their god Allah had decreed this crime against humanity in their holy book called the Qur'an. 3. Catholic nuns in Gaza were raped, Christian schools were closed, the owner of the Baptist book store in Gaza was assassinated and our Christian leaders were savagely attacked. In particular, Father Manuel Musallem and the head of the Near East Council of Churches, Constantine Dabbagh, were beaten and robbed in their homes. Only a few international news media reported these events because the Hamas terrorists threatened to kidnap their reporters like the BBC's Alan Johnston. 4. Matters worsened shortly thereafter with the visit of the Holy Father to the Holy Land. Pope Benedict was called the "Anti-Christ" by Hamas who predicted that he would be slain by the Muslim Mahdi. All Christians in Gaza were forced to have their women covered from head to toe with ghastly clothing marked with the cross to more readily identify them for instigated mob violence. Christians were ousted from the professions and government service. Hundreds were imprisoned in torture chambers for refusing to convert to Islam. Beatings and forced marriages between Christian women and Muslim men occurred. 5. These events started to spur the exodus of Christians from the Holy Land, the cradle of Christian civilization, especially in the so-called West Bank known to Christians as Judea and Samaria. 6. Not wishing to be outdone, the Fatah gang controlling the Palestinian Authority there in Ramallah ordered the burning down of the YMCA in Qalqilya, accompanied by the torching of Christian schools and churches in Bethlehem, East Jerusalem and Tulkarem. They were even so bold as to shut down the only Palestinian Christian television station in the West Bank and to encroach on the property of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher by expanding their Al-Hanka Mosque right next door. What is worse, the Palestinian Authority has now instigated the radicalized Israeli Arabs to expand their Shihab al-Din Mosque right in front of the largest Christian basilica in Asia, namely the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. They threaten to kidnap and rape any Christian Arab who protests. We are begging the Israeli government to put a stop to this desecration of our Lord's city immediately. 7. In a particular harrowing incident, bullets were fired into the St. John the Baptist Church in Nablus run by the Greek Melkite Church while Father Youssef Saadeh's children were inside. The gunmen then tried to kick down the door and ignited it with gasoline. 8. In Bethlehem, where the PA threatens the life of the Christian mayor if she protests Hebron Muslim land grabs of Christian Bethlehemites, there have been 14 Palestinian Muslim bombing and gunshot attacks on the First Baptist Church. Its pastor, Naim Khoury, has been shot and left for dead. He and his congregants live under constant physical threat. In March 2012, the Palestinian Authority withdrew the Church's capacity to register and certify births, weddings and deaths in a clumsy attempt to shut it down, despite then Premier Fayyad's personal assurances to American Evangelical Christians meeting in Bethlehem that very same month that freedom of religion was guaranteed to all faiths. 9. The Palestinian Authority's Minister of Religion warned the Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Coptic, Latin and Ethiopic Patriarchs in Jerusalem and Sebastia that they personally would be risking the safety of their bodies if they protested officially. Clearly, the Hamas and PA agendas are racist. They intend to force the emigration of all Christian Palestinian Arabs from the Palestinian territories they occupy unless they abide by their Islamic rules of apartheid, notably the subservience and segregation rules known as the dhimma and the payment of protection money known as jizya. 10. One has only to witness the events of 2012. Besides the First Baptist Church Affair, the apartheid terror campaign by the Palestinian Muslims has seen the stoning of Christian pilgrims from abroad on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in February and the July protests in Gaza City by dozens of Palestinian Christians in the square of the ancient Church of Saint Porpyhrius against forcible conversions of their congregants to Islam and being detained against their will. "If things remain like this, there'll be no Christians left in Gaza," lamented Huda al-Amash, mother of one of the "converts." 11. A growing terrifying trend is the sequestration of Palestinian Christian Arab virgins and their forced "marriages" to their Palestinian Muslim captors in Gaza and West Bank villages. Hundreds of teenage girls have thusly been "married" without their consent. 12. Pastor Munir Kakash, head of the Council of Evangelical Churches in the Holy Land, this year protested against the denial of his co-religionists' human rights by the Palestinian Authority. The international community has thereby been made aware that these churches cannot issue marriage certificates, register their church properties or even open bank accounts to manage church affairs. Unregistered properties are thus open to be plundered at will by the Muslim Palestinian mobs incited by the racist Palestinian Authority regime. 13. The boycott of Palestinian commerce and its propaganda machinery is the only non-violent way to overthrow the segregationist apartheid regimes of Muslim rule in Gaza and the West Bank. Just like the fall of the evil South African apartheid regime in 1990 was achieved through an international boycott, so too will Palestinian Muslim Arab racism be defeated by our boycott. 14. Our civil society boycott will also wipe away the unpardonable blasphemy of the Palestine Liberation Organization controlling the Palestinian Authority regime which has claimed for two decades that our Lord and Savior, the Christ Jesus, was a Palestinian Arab. This satanic claim is particularly propagated to the world during the Christmas season. 15. The BPGSC is headquartered in Geneva, with active branches in London, Vancouver, Seattle, Washington, Jerusalem, Doha and Canberra. It is financed by the Palestinian Christian Resistance, Women Living Under Muslim Law, the International Campaign against Palestinian Apartheid, Christians United for Israel, Messianic Jews of America, the American Federation of Lebanese Maronites, Quaker Solidarity with Christians Under Muslim Persecution, Europeans for Boycotting Arab and Iranian Goods, Palestinians for a Secular Palestine, the Association of Palestinian Christian Professors and Students in Canada and the USA, television personality Glen Beck, Arabs for Israel and Arab Women Against Saudi Gender Apartheid. 16. We are grateful to the Congress of the United States of America whose representatives have vowed to overthrow the Palestinian apartheid regimes and to Prince Charles of Wales who has taken up the plight of the Palestinian Christians. II.LIST OF ENTITIES SUBJECT TO BOYCOTT...